Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved the army’s “action plans” ahead of the attack on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, according to a statement sent to the press today. This reaction comes a few hours after Hamas proposed a cease-fire in Gaza, as well as the dispatch of Israeli diplomats to Doha for negotiations.
“The Israeli army is ready for the operational side and to evacuate the area from the population,” according to Netanyahu’s statement, which gave no further details on the long-announced operation, which the United States and the UN have repeatedly warned should not done
Netanyahu has been promising for weeks that he will continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and has repeatedly announced the upcoming attack on Rafah, which is very close to the closed border with Egypt, and where, according to the UN, about one and a half million Palestinians have gathered. Washington, for its part, reiterates its opposition to any attack on Rafah as it endangers the civilians who have taken refuge there.
“I will continue to reject the pressure. We will enter Rafa. We will complete the elimination of Hamas battalions,” Netanyahu reiterated Thursday in a message on the X social media platform.
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The Israeli prime minister last month asked the army to present him with a plan to clear the area of civilians. The military submitted a plan to the war cabinet in late February, no details of which have been leaked.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, during his visit to Vienna, said today that he “has not yet seen a plan” from the Israelis, while recalling that the United States is asking for a “clear and workable plan.”
In Ramallah, the presidency of the Palestinian Authority expressed its “deep concern over the imminent Israeli military offensive in Rafah, which may lead to new massacres and new displacements of the population,” according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
“The presidency has called for the swift intervention of the US government and the international community in order to prevent this military attack,” adds Wafa.
The announcement of the approval of the army’s plans for Rafah came as hostage negotiations in Gaza are expected to resume after the announcement today that an Israeli delegation will be sent to Doha, Qatar.
With information from APE, Reuters
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